From a cursory reading, ROZ is a quick fix solution offered by US...
Some of the drawbacks I feel are
1. If ROZ is implemented on a large scale, Pakistanis will be investing quite a lot of their resources in these areas and hence they have inherently higher risk (US corp on the other hand will be investing a fraction and might have bailouts etc.)
2. Since most of the Border areas etc. (except may be Mirpur?) don't have skilled workers therefore people from other areas will shift leading again to a demographic change which might be resented by the local populace
3. They will be prime targets for disruption. and the tribals might see as a way of changing their way of life, terrorists might see them as easy targets.. etc...
4. I don't think the border areas are as well connected to Karachi and the cost and mode of transportation will result in significant bottlenecks(I am not sure of other infrastructure)
ROZ are not a soln for taking care of tribal areas but in the future sure have a
potential to exacerbate the situation...
instead terrorism should be countered with a heavy hand and then border area populace rehabilitated and then given economic opportunities... (an example of an alt to ROZ by no means exhaustive)..
I am going to address your last point first. If terrorism could be addressed solely by using a "heavy hand", the US would not be struggling in Afghanistan or Iraq. Terrorism is a multidimensional problem and requires a multidimensional approach to effectively tackle it. The application of force has already been used - the Pakistan military has beated back the Taliban in Swat, Darra Adamkhel and in B Mehsud's territory. What is needed now is the presence of an alternate source of livelihood and a "life outside militancy". Without providing that alternative, the militancy will never end, and this fact has been accepted by almost every single Western Analysis coming out of both Afghanistan and Iraq.
However, it is almost impossible to get companies to invest in high risk areas such as FATA without incentives - that is where the incentive of the ROZ's come in. This is meant to be a quick solution to reduce support for the Taliban among the local populace, and provide time for the GoP to undertake long term reform. The ROZ"s have been proposed to exist for about 15 years, in the meantime it is the GoP's responsivility to affect long term change in the Tribal belt by investing in social infrastructure (education, health, basic services), as well as exploring the local economy (mineral deposits, agriculture etc.) to provide long term solutions for the region. Therefore, while the ROZ's are not a longterm solution for the Tribal areas, they are a necessary short-medium term solution to get the ball rolling, and in turn provide a boost for the overall Pakistani economy as well, which allows for increased revenues that can be pumped back into the local economy and social sector reforms.
You talk about "rehabilitation of the locals" and "giving economic opportunities" - I would argue that is exactly what the ROZ's are designed to do, in the short-medium term.
On the question of locals not being employed, that will depend upon how the GoP approaches the ROZ's in FATA - whether it will also set up vocational training institutes for unskilled labor so that they can be used in the industry being set up. The Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF) did something similar when they tried to move the illegal gun manufacturing in Darra Adamkhel into the legal sphere - they set up workshops to train the Tribesmen in manufacturing quality sporting and hunting arms and ammuintion in legal POF factories. So the same process can be replicated here. TUSDEC is a federal agency that has been doing some remarkable work in setting up vocational training centers across Pakistan, and their help might be utilized here as well.
Connectivity is not an issue. The Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway was completed last year, which then connects to the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway, and then various highways from Lahore to Karachi. Within FATA, the GoP has already been constructing roads from the agencies (Such as the friendly Wazir part of South Waziristan) to link up with other roads going to Peshawar. There are also various roads used for transport into Afghanistan from Peshawar that can be linked to from the various zones. So the main arteries already exist, and only connecting roads need to be built. IN the long term, as the GoP continues to develop another trade corridor in the West of the country, rail lines and roads from the north to Gwadar are also being planned, and those can also be linked to.
Tribal leaders have already approved of the ROZ's. What the rest of the world does not seem to understand is that the vast majority of the Triabls just want to get on with their lives, and have a means of living - they won't oppose the ROZ's, the Taliban (those who haven't entered "deals") will. And the government is taking great care, from what I have read, to set up ROZ's only in thse areas where they can get the Local elders and/or Taliban to guarantee peace. So your point of the Locals "resenting the change" is incorrect.
Major investors in the zones (FATA ROZ's atleast - the AK and Baluchistan ones do not have anywhere close to the same amount of risk associated with them) may indeed by primarily Pakistani/Arab/Chinese, but that is fine, since it allows the domestic industry to expand into a huge American market, and strengthen.
